A Benihana Christmas w/ Rashida Jones and Jen Celotta

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I'm Jenna Fisher.

And I'm Angela Kinsey.

We were on The Office together.

And we're best friends.

And now we're doing the Ultimate Office Rewatch podcast just for you.

Each week, we will break down an episode of The Office and give exclusive behind-the-scenes stories that only two people who were there can tell you.

We're the office ladies.

Merry, Merry Christmas!

Merry, Merry Christmas.

It's Christmas on the office again.

Well, someone showed up very festive.

That's right.

It's a Benny Hana Christmas.

Well, I think Angela Martin would let you know it's a Nutcracker Christmas.

Oh, wow.

Oh, wow.

You're already going there.

I am, lady.

I am here.

The party planning committee has arrived.

Well, we'll talk about that.

Guys, this is season three, episode 10, written by Jen Salada, directed by Harold Ramis.

A Beni Hana Christmas.

And this is an hour-long episode.

Yeah, so buckle in.

It's going to be a super-size episode of Office Ladies.

And we have some exciting news.

We have two special guests this week, Rashida Jones and writer Jen Salada.

So much fun.

And both of these ladies will be joining us for interviews during the episode.

Well, Jenna, how about giving us a summary?

Okay,

it is Christmas at Dunder Mifflin.

Carol breaks up with Michael the day of the Christmas party after Michael photoshops himself under her family Christmas card.

He put his face on her ex-husband's face from a family ski trip and sent it out to people.

Yeah.

Oh, Michael.

Well, Andy suggests he and some of the guys take Michael to Benny Hanna to cheer him up.

Meanwhile, Angela kicks Karen out of the party planning committee.

So Pam and Karen band together and start the committee to plan parties.

We're going to have some dueling holiday parties.

Oh, she should have had better ideas.

Oh, boy,

you are in it to win it today, and I came to play.

I came to play.

Well, later, Michael and the boys come back from Benihana with dates just in time for the two parties to merge.

And we end with everyone singing their hearts out to karaoke.

All right, fast fact number one: Harold Ramos.

Harold Ramos.

I mean, Jenna, my whole childhood were his movies.

Legend.

I was so giddy, nervous, excited to work with him.

I mean, Meatballs, Caddyshack, Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters 2, Groundhog Day for flippin' sake.

Stripes.

Stripes.

Oh, my God.

Yes, stripes.

Oh, also, Angela, he got his start at Chicago's Second City.

Yes, he's just like so talented.

He's such a great writer as well, you guys.

He's a writer, actor, director.

He was just a comic legend, and I was in awe.

Well, you know, he passed away in 2014.

I just can't believe that I got to work with him, frankly.

I know.

Harold Ramos was just a teddy bear of a human.

He just made you feel so comfortable and he was so fun to talk to.

And I have some great memories of him.

We did a lot of conference room scenes, obviously.

in this episode.

I was in the conference room quite a bit, right?

Because my party versus Karen's and Pam's party.

Yeah.

And Harold was in the conference room with me and we were just chatting and he told this great story about how when kids would come trick-or-treating to his house, he lived in Illinois, he would put on the Ghostbusters uniform and answer the door in his Ghostbusters uniform.

Yeah.

He did that every year.

I thought that was so delightful.

It was the sweetest story.

All right, let's move into fast fact number two, which I'm calling guest star breakdown.

Okay.

We got to break down all of our guest stars, the Benihana waitresses.

The main waitress in the restaurant, Cindy, is played by Brittany Ishibashi, who you might recognize from Runaways.

She starred as Tina, as well as recurring roles on Hawaii Five O and Grayson Frankie.

But here is something

very interesting about Brittany and me.

What?

Okay, weirdly, both Brittany and I have had guest appearances on the TV shows Off-Center and Mismatch, but we were not in the same episode.

So The Office was the third project that she and I have both been in, but we've never shared a scene and we've never met.

That's crazy.

Our lives have sort of been intersecting.

Brittany, am I going to meet you one day?

You're on track to finally be in a project together at the same time on the same day in the same scene.

So, Angela, there are two more guest star waitresses.

These are the waitresses that Michael and Andy bring back to the party.

So, first there is Amy, who is played by Cat On, and she's done just a ton of sketch comedy, stand up, funny or die.

And then there is Michael's girlfriend, Nikki, who is played by Kulop Velaisak.

Okay, I worked with Kulop on Hot Wives of Orlando.

It was the show on Hulu.

It's a really funny spoop of the real housewives, and she was great in it.

She's great in a lot of things, but that was a lot of fun to do.

Well, lady, you know I loved that.

I know.

Okay.

Fast fact number three.

I got the scoop from Kentopedia on the Benihana location because we got a lot of fan questions about it.

I wanted to ask about that because I was wondering if it's the Benihanas inn in Sino.

It sure is.

I have been to that Benihana's and when I was re-watching this, this,

the way you walk into the restaurant, you know, it's the same.

And I was like, yeah, come on, that's Benihana's in Encino, California.

Well, lady, we got some fan questions from Ashley Hildreth, Rachel Martineau,

Hannah Holtman, Malia Holbrook, Abigail Hess,

Rupinder Gossel, and many others all asked, were the restaurant scenes filmed at an actual restaurant?

How long did it have to be shut down?

And is the chef at Benihana an actual Benihana chef?

Or was it an actor?

I'm going to say yes because he was too good with that knife.

Yes, we will start there.

It was a real chef.

We hired all of the chefs and all of the wait staff of the Encino Benihana to perform in the episode.

And we also hired 78 background actors to play diners.

We shut it down for a whole day.

We rented out the entire place.

And it took about 12 hours to shoot those scenes.

This is reminding me that we had a bigger budget because when in the past could we go in and be like, we'll take the whole place.

I mean, even Chili's was like an out-of-business, boarded up

restaurant.

But this was like an actually like very successful restaurant that was always full of people.

And we closed them down for a day.

Wow, Z.

Well, and I did a deep dive on Benny Hanna.

And I'd like to give you now the history of Benihana, the restaurant.

Well, I didn't see that coming.

So

I'm ready.

It's fascinating.

This is from the Benihana website.

And this is the first line from their description of the history of the Benihana restaurant.

I'm going to quote it because it is fantastic.

Quote,

like any good story, the history of Benihana begins begins with the descendant of a samurai warrior and a small Tokyo coffee shop.

Are you intrigued?

I'm riveted.

Okay, it's amazing.

So this is what happened.

So there's a couple in Tokyo, Yunosuke and Katsu.

They started a coffee shop, and in order to set themselves apart, Yunosuke would bike over 20 miles to get real sugar to serve with the coffee in his shop.

And this little detail caused the shop to be a huge success.

The name of their coffee shop was Benny Hana.

All right, cut to years later, the couple's son, Rocky, moves to the United States with dreams of opening a restaurant.

He starts by going to night school to study restaurant management and during the day he sold ice cream on the streets of Harlem.

But here's what he did.

He put a little Japanese cocktail umbrella into the ice cream, and this really set it apart.

And eventually he earned $10,000,

which he used to open his first Benny Hanna restaurant, naming it after his parents' coffee shop in Tokyo.

Well, that was adorable.

Also, I'm a sucker for anything with a tiny umbrella in it.

Give it to me.

Any drink with a tiny umbrella tastes better.

It really does.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, that's a fact.

I might have saved a few of those, like from special occasions, and they're in my kitchen.

I don't doubt it.

That is very you.

I know.

My husband's like, do we still need these?

I mean, the little stick is broken.

I'm like, no, don't throw it away.

Okay, so there's more to this story.

Okay, his first shop, which was on West 56th Street, it was exactly like how it is today.

His vision was to have the Tempanyaki grills set up in front of the customers with the chefs doing all the knife work.

But it was, it was struggling at first until six months after they opened, the restaurant got a boost when a famous food critic came in and gave the restaurant a fabulous review.

Here's my favorite part of that.

Can I tell you the name of the food critic?

This famous food critic.

Like, you wanted this person to come to your restaurant.

Are you ready?

Who?

Clementine Paddleford.

Oh, my God.

She sounds like a made-up character in a Mary Poppins movie.

She sounds like an improv game that I used to do when I did improv.

Hey, guys, come on.

We're going to do Clementine Paddle Ford.

Let's do it.

Right?

I was like, what is happening?

We're in a Disney film.

I want, I want that.

Wait, wait, wait.

There's just so many ways I want to use that name now.

Like, I want it to be a cocktail.

I'll take a Clementine Paddle Ford, please.

It comes with an umbrella.

And thank you, Clementine, for giving Benny Hanna a rave review because the restaurant became a huge success.

And there are now over 70 Benny Hanna restaurants in the United States, Caribbean, and Central and South America.

How about that?

That is a really good one.

And you know what?

If your name is Clementine Paddleford, you are the best food critic in New York City.

I mean, yes.

I have a clear picture of this woman and her discerning food eating looks.

Yeah.

Oh, I need to see what she looks like.

I only imagine her eating with like very tiny cutlery, like a tiny fork in a right?

Why, why is that?

All right, lady, thank you for indulging my deep dive on Benny Hana and Clementine Paddle Ford.

Are you kidding?

I loved it.

I need more Clementine Paddle Ford in my life.

Same.

Same.

But listen, should we move on now to our first interview?

Yes.

Okay, guys.

We had such a fun storyline with Rashida Jones in this episode with the whole dueling Christmas parties.

And it was such a blast to shoot.

We couldn't wait to reunite with her and talk all about it.

So let's get to it.

Sam, run the interview with Rashida.

I'm so happy to see your face.

I know, me too.

This is so nice.

I don't think the three of us have been, well, we're not in the same place, but we have at least been all talking to each other for like a decade.

Oh, yeah, all in the same one place.

Yeah.

I think you're right.

That makes me a little sad.

Crazy.

Isabel asked me a really random question the other day.

She's like, mom, who of your friends have you been on a boat with?

and i was like well i mean rashida and i went on an ocean conservation trip for oceana so we were on a lot of boats wait a lot

i mean we were like on a boat almost every day that's true for a week in police and so we were we were like clocking how many boats and i'm like well technically maybe same boat, but a boat every day.

That one dive that we took that day where there was like, it was like the 101 of the ocean.

It was like sharks and eels and turtles it was just the coolest it was the coolest

i know oh that was great i miss all of that i know um but yeah i just thought it was just like one of those questions your kid asks you and then she's like wait you've never been on a boat with jenna i was like no jenna have you guys never been on a boat we've never been on a boat we've got some adventures jenna you got it you got to make that happen you you might have to do like a like a recording of your podcast on a boat oh dear Lord, Rashida, look at our setup right now.

Like, how close that looks like?

Doesn't it sound good to imagine, though?

Yeah.

In the future?

Yes.

One day we'll be boating and podcasting together.

Oh, God.

I love it.

Well, we can't thank you enough for being here.

We're so thrilled to have you.

I'm so happy to be here.

Well, Rashida, one question we always ask our guests is: how did you come to be on the office?

I auditioned

many, many times.

I knew people socially before

I joined the cast.

And I went to college with Mike Schur.

We were in a play together freshman year.

Oh, man.

I would love to see what Mike Scherr was like in college.

He was the same.

He was the same.

Yeah, he was like floppy haired.

I mean, he was a little less.

I remember like in our 20s, he got like a fancy shirt for the first time.

and making fun of him for a really long time.

So he was like, he was like Mike without like any, any sort of like socialization you know

and we were in a like a really bad farce together and yeah we became fast friends and we took a lot of classes together and anyway so i knew mike and i came to know about the the us office because he moved from from new york and said i got a job in la and i'm gonna write the u.s office and I was really mad at him, as I think a lot of people were, because we were like, how could you do that?

The UK office, my favorite show.

How could you even try yeah and then it was in a lot of ways you know its own thing and even better and great and you know but it was a big mountain i'm sure for you you all to climb oh yeah my first reaction was like no no no no no it's perfect it's perfect right right and then of course i was like so thrilled you know when it was like greg and such smart people in the writer's room You guys had the benefit of playing characters that didn't have a British counterpart.

Like I was always worried, oh no, I don't want people to think that I stole my performance

from Lucy Davis.

Right.

And so, but I had seen her performance and I'm sure it seeped in.

How could it not?

And also the lines were the same in the pilot.

Right.

But you guys had a big part, I think, of getting to influence your characters.

Is that true on your part, Rashida?

Angela's kind of talked about that before.

There was some, remember there was some third point in a triangle that showed up in the UK office.

there was like a love interest for tim

that came up but a completely different like characterization of somebody who you know who who would be a like a threat to that relationship to end that other point just to say that i auditioned many many many times and i remember having a distinct feeling then when when i got to the point jenna where you and i sat in a room and read lines together and then got to improv a little bit like everything just like made sense all of a sudden you know like it all it was such a cool like counterpart like it made me feel like oh i really like i feel like i really get this dynamic you know um

and i feel like you you kind of got me the part in a lot of ways no way yes no you did well i had that same experience with you in the room and it's very similar to when they paired me up with john i was like oh when i'm paired up with this person i just turn into pam i think i read with two or three different people and mike asked me, so what'd you think?

Who'd you like?

And I just went on and on and on and on and on about you.

And I was like, I mean,

she was amazing.

I told him all those things.

She made it so easy to be Pam.

And he was like, okay, noted.

But he didn't say like, oh, she's my best friend from college.

I can't wait to tell her.

So he played it so cool.

No, and by the way, with me too, like, I wish if there were a time I really wanted a part and I had, I could like curry some favor with people I knew, this was the time, but like nobody would do anything for me.

Because you know how Greg is too.

I mean, he was like asking everybody, he could not make up his mind.

There was like another woman, he was kind of trying to decide between us.

I came in so many times.

I waited for so long.

Mike, you know, Mike is like ethical, Mike.

So he wasn't going to be like, I'm going to just, I'm going to gun for you.

He was like, it has to be the right person for the part, and everybody has to be on board.

So like, it was torture, it was torturous.

Like, they, they really, really took me to the bitter end before I, before I got the call.

I'm so glad you got the part.

It changed my whole career.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I, I was like about to quit acting before I got the show.

So it was, it was a big deal for me.

For Jenna and I, this was the first time I had re-watched the whole Benny Hanna Christmas, like all in one sitting.

Yeah.

I had seen little clips because, you know, it's the little drummer boy and people like send me clips of me doing that, but I hadn't really sat down and watched it all.

And what about you?

Was this the first time you re-watched it?

Yes, I hadn't seen it.

I don't think since it aired.

And I was giggling so much.

And like a couple of things occurred to me.

One was that

we got that payoff, Jenna, finally, like that thing that like came to life in the audition.

I don't think it really got to really manifest until this episode, you know, because up to now we were kind of like rivals and like sniffing each other's butts.

That sounds gross, but you know what I mean?

If we were dogs, we would have been doing that.

And this is the first time that like, I think the humanity in both characters recognized the mutual humanity in the other one and was like, you know what?

Like it's Christmas and we work in this, in these close quarters.

And also we have a common enemy in Angela.

So it was like, it just was easy for us to, to, to like, to, to be a team, which I, I thought that was really cool.

I don't mean to toot our own horns, but I think we had amazing chemistry in this episode.

I just, I mean, we are adorable.

Can I say it?

You can say it.

You could say it.

There could have been a spin-off.

That's all.

I just want to say.

Totally.

Pam and Karen.

Christmas special.

Yes.

I can tell you guys, we would hang out between scenes and I would just start cracking up and just be with you guys.

I'd be like, yay, hey, I'm hanging out.

It's the girls.

And then, like, on action, I had to be so mean.

to both of you.

And then you like got to have this whole other hangout.

It was hard.

I know.

Phyllis, Phyllis really gets to emote how much she's like missing the other party.

I wasn't able to, but that's how I felt.

I know, I know, but it's good because it all plays out in the episode because we like we joined forces, yeah, yeah, we did what we needed to do, which was just like teach you a lesson and help you to stop being so controlling.

And then you got to sing, you know.

Oh, God, I was terrified.

Um, I don't like singing in front of people, you guys.

That was really hard, but God, I listen, I had to do it at that in that wedding episode.

We had to sing the police, and I was so scared.

Do you remember that episode?

Whose wedding was it?

Is that Phyllis's wedding?

Phyllis's wedding, yes.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

It is interesting time to watch these episodes again.

You know, Jenna and I have talked about this a little bit.

That was interesting for me to re-watch it now.

How was it for you?

I mean, listen, that was the second thing I was going to say: is watching the off, I haven't watched the show since it aired.

And, you know, I think so much of the show and so much of Michael and the, and what works about Michael is this delicate balance between full cringe and like well-intentioned,

lovable, like

bad boss.

And to watch it now in the current climate, like that balance feels different.

It just feels so different.

I mean, there's so much stuff.

It's not, it's beyond cringe.

It's like,

wow, but it's also to me, like, you know, I think there's so much conversation right now about what's acceptable, but but also like in retrospect, what we're allowed to kind of partake in,

you know, in a time where things were considered more acceptable, even if they weren't and they shouldn't be.

I think it's good to have things that

read really badly now and didn't read badly at the time because it is a mark of our of our progress.

And it's also like the show resonates because Michael reminds people of their bosses and people they work with and maybe a little bit of themselves.

And it's like really important that people see that like you have to measure up to the moment that you're in.

So much of the show is like people putting up with like his bad behavior and being like, oh my God.

And now I think people feel armed at work to be like, you know what?

I don't like the way you're talking about that person or that woman or that whatever.

Like, I don't, that's not acceptable behavior anymore.

And you could say something and feel empowered as like an employee to do that, you know?

So it was super fascinating.

I think a lot of times we on the show as characters, we would speak up by giving a look to camera

or indicating our disapproval.

But you're right.

I think today

we would speak up right to his face.

Michael wouldn't have a job with that behavior, probably.

No, it's one too many infractions, Michael.

Geez, he's like a human resources nightmare.

And that's the funny thing, too, is that Toby is the enemy.

Like Toby's trying to, like, he's sensitive and he's trying to take care of people and be tolerant.

And like, Michael hates him so much for it because he's killing his party.

And like, that this feels like a relationship you couldn't even break today, really, you know?

One of the notes that Greg gave Steve when Steve was.

like starting to perform as Michael is that he saw the character as this guy who thinks maybe Jennifer Anniston might see this tape someday.

Like, so to sort of play it like

I so see in Steve's performance how Michael Scott thinks he's an entertainer.

He thinks he's funny and cutting edge and pushing boundaries and he's just so inappropriate.

But I see his performance in a different way, knowing that note from Greg.

Totally.

Well, also because, you know, there's a conversation around who is entitled to push the boundaries.

And I think that entertainers feel like they can.

in a way that normal people can't.

And so it would make sense that like Michael would think he's one of those entertainers and not one of those normal people, you know?

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

We have talked a lot about party planning committee scenes and how much fun we had getting to do them as actors, right?

Yeah.

And

I just loved, loved, Rashida, that you got to be in on that and that you guys like that we got to sit in there and play.

That was the most fun.

So fun.

Particularly, there's that scene, Rashida, where you try to participate in the party.

You try to throw out some ideas of things you guys used to do in Stanford and Angela just shuts you down.

Yeah, they're like good ideas.

A raffle.

Very good.

As we will see played out in a successful party in the break room.

She just had it out for me.

I mean, I don't actually don't, I don't take it personally.

I think it was just like, that's, that was your place to shine and that was your committee for so long.

Well, it's like the people that only have a tiny bit of power, but with that power, it just means everything.

Yes.

Everything.

Yes.

I mean, so I think that was the party planning committee was her thing.

And if you messed with it, she spiraled out.

There's a deleted talking head that's not in the episode, but it's on the DVDs.

Oh.

You're like, I don't know.

We didn't have a party planning committee in Stanford.

Like,

like, like, it's really funny because you're just like, why, why is there a committee?

Like.

Yeah.

I mean, I love, I also love those scenes.

Those were my favorite scenes on the show.

It's like when you're all kind of stuck in a room and there's like a rhythm to the scene because A, I get church giggles, even though i'm jewish but i do

and and also like it's just so fun to watch the ping pong of like you know phyllis's eyes dart or like you know like kate be like yes like please anything with alcohol i'm in or like just to see that i love watching the rhythm of like especially because it was like it's all ladies that scene right Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It was just so fun.

It was great.

Rashida, I have to bring this up.

We've been tracking this.

I call it wishy-washy Jim.

And I want to get your take on wishy-washy Jim.

I am annoyed that Jim did not tell Karen about his past with Pam at Dunder Mifflin.

She walks into

this whole world, this whole thing.

She has no idea.

Yeah.

And then it's sort of, he doesn't tell Pam that he's seeing Karen.

So there's this whole like many episodes where these two women, Karen is in the dark, Pam is like

sensing something, but trying to figure it out.

Well, I think this speaks to a larger thing, which is like in the lore of the office universe, like, you know, I take umbrage with like what Karen means now in the modern day, because I think neither, neither Rashida, Rashida is definitely not a Karen.

And even Karen is from the office is not Karen, like, because she's, she's up for good times.

She's not a tattletale and she's not a racist.

But anyway, the point being, like, there is this thing, right?

Like, Karen is sort of designed to be the third point in the triangle, which is, was designed to be a thing to like make people feel like they wanted they wanted Pam and Jim to be drawn closer together, driven closer together.

So like, I was kind of a tool in that way.

you know, and and so everything was like, I remember like the writers talking about it, they just didn't want to push anything too far in each direction.

But yes, I think that the that the end

result is that Jim ends up being like not great to me and not great to you because he's like not really being honest with anybody.

But I guess you could chalk it up to his confusion about what he wants.

Yeah, but I agree with you, it's irritating.

And I think in real life, that would be like super annoying,

you know?

Yeah.

Well, I think what I found in the rewatch

is that I am siding more with your character.

I'm, I'm having sympathy for her.

Like, of course, I want Jim and Pam to end up together, but at the same time,

it's, it's making me like the tension.

I just like, this poor woman,

she just loves him.

She's just.

She knows nothing.

She knows nothing.

She knows nothing.

Yeah.

So it's making me very much side with your character, I have to say.

And I'm Pam.

That is Pam's name.

Pam is like.

There's like this meme that's like, like for kids who grew up watching The Office, it's like, like that feeling when you realize that the only reason you hated Karen was because you wanted Pam and Jim to be together and you realized that she did nothing wrong.

Like that's like a thing.

Yeah.

That's like a thing now where kids are like, which is kind of cool.

It's like providing this opportunity to like see people in a more nuanced way for kids who grew up being like, that's the enemy and that's the people I wanted to be together.

Now they're like, Wait a second, she's like not that bad.

It's just that I wanted her not to be with him, I wanted her to be with him.

You know, they're growing, they're learning.

Well, before you leave, do you have any other memories or behind-the-scenes stories that you want to share?

It doesn't even have to be about this episode, it could be about just your time on the show.

You know, it's funny, watching it, I was like, it made me really nostalgic because it just reminded me of all the like little

moments.

And like, I don't, you know, like, I haven't talked about it in so long, but I, I just remember like

ed and i there's a there's a line where andy says in this episode oh no sorry it's the next episode where he goes there's only two left and i'm going to be the last man standing and he was the last man standing but like you know ed and i were like it was so weird because we like started in this like weird like bizarro world version of the office where like none of you guys were there except for john and then we like moved over to like actually work with you guys.

And then like, we didn't know how long we were going to be there.

And I was like signed up for, we were set up for four episodes, and then it was like 10.

And then they were like the whole year, but it was this weird thing that was like, what is going on?

Cause we were like on this little train together where we were both like, just like, what's going on?

This is like a crazy, huge opportunity for both of us.

And we would just have these little like pow wows at our trailer, our tiny little trailers, and just like try to check in and see what was going on.

Cause it really was like, it's such a game changer for me.

And like, and everybody was so nice to me.

And it just, everybody was, everybody's everybody's so different on the show so like I think just to like get to know you all and Phyllis like the ladies were like my favorite like just

so it was such a like

formative time for me in my life you know yeah really was Well, Rashida, we loved you too.

And I know we should probably wrap up your interview because we could talk to you forever.

But I want to give a little shout out to hashtag black AF.

It was so fun to get to work with you again.

You're so hilarious in this.

You play Joya.

Yeah.

That's such a fun character.

So fun.

She's so complicated.

She is so complicated.

She's so layered.

Like she's like a good mom.

She's a crappy mom.

She's like all over the place, like in her marriage.

I know.

It's done in the mockumentary style, too.

Like the premise is that your daughter is doing this.

documentary of your family, her dad, who's this writer and creator of a TV show.

And it's for, it's like in place of her college,

right?

Is that the idea?

Yeah.

Yeah.

And so you guys do talking heads, but she's also like capturing video and then more formally, sometimes you guys are performing for the camera a little bit

because you know it's there.

Rashida, you're such an amazing writer, director, performer, actress.

Is there anything else we can share?

I mean, oh, I have, I produce a show that's on Quibi that I love and I, and I think everybody should go watch if they have Quibi.

Or if they don't, then they can, I don't know, get a trial or something.

My friend Maurice Harris, he's this beautiful florist, artist, dancer.

He's just like a magical person.

And we produced this show called Centerpiece, which is where he sits with an artist and they talk about their process and their life and their childhood.

And then he creates this beautiful, like magical centerpiece that's like the embodiment of their life and art and journey.

And it's just like a cool, like wonderful little inspiring show.

I want to see it.

I want to see it.

Centerpiece.

Yeah.

Centerpiece.

Okay, guys.

Well, Rashida, thank you so, so much.

Thank you.

So fun.

I'll come back.

Come back.

I mean, you didn't invite me, but if you invite me, I will come back.

Okay, okay.

You are officially invited and you will officially come back.

I can't wait.

Great.

Rashida, I hope we get to go on a boat again.

I will.

We'll podcast.

I do love a boat.

So

I can be the recurring character on your boat cast.

Boatcast?

Trademark.

Trademark.

Boatcasting with Jenna and Angela Angela with special guests, Rashida.

Rashida Jones.

Oh my God, I love it.

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All right, guys, we're back because it's a Christmas miracle.

Dwight has run over a goose.

It's a Christmas miracle.

That's what he says.

And then he flops it on your desk.

Yeah.

He flops a dead goose on Pam's desk.

And then my favorite is when Toby comes in and he's like, Dwight, we've talked about this.

He said we talked about it for like half an hour.

Yeah, you have to stop bringing dead animals into the office.

Well, we had a lot of fan questions about this cold open, Angela.

Okay, let's hear it.

This one always delights me.

Logan Jenser, Kayla Sewell, Carrie Rice, Dimitra Lizu, and Harshida Verma all asked if Phil Shea made the goose that Dwight carries in.

He did.

Yeah.

He had to make and find that goose.

That's another day in the life of Phil Shea.

What are you doing today, Phil?

Yeah.

I'm making a dead goose.

Actually, I'm making five different types of dead gooses, and then I'm going to take photos of them.

And then,

you know, the executive producers and writers are going to pick which dead goose, but I have eight dead gooses.

You know what I mean?

Exactly.

That's more of what Phil Shea did that week.

Yeah, he's going to have like a portfolio of dead geese.

Jenna, so many people have huddled around Pam's desk about this.

Phyllis, Kevin, Creed, Jim, Toby, they're all discussing this.

Everyone is grossed out, but Phyllis.

Yeah, Phyllis is kind of like, that seems reasonable.

She's got no problem with it.

What's that about?

What is that about?

I mean,

I feel like this is the first time ever.

Quote me if I'm wrong out there, internet folks.

This is the first time that Creed says something is crazy.

Creed is like, that's crazy.

Well, we've got a fan catch, Angela.

Naya Shaw, Christian Harper, Kimberly Classen, and Rebecca McAllister all noticed that while Creed is in this cold open,

giving his two cents about the goose, in the next scene, he enters for the day and takes a toy.

Yes, at four minutes, 10 seconds, all of a sudden Creed is arriving for the first time.

He's in his coat, the whole thing.

And I was like, wait, that's continuity error.

So we probably shot that cold open a different day, right?

Well, guess what, Ange?

I went back to the old script darooney.

Oh.

And this entire cold open about the goose is not even in there.

They added it.

They added it.

They added it.

The original beginning of this scene was Michael riding in on his bike.

So we shot this cold open and added it later.

And somebody obviously just forgot that Creed shouldn't be at work yet.

Yeah, well, I have a little bit of a creed catch that I'm going to call spiky creed hair.

Oh, okay.

We got some classic spiky creed hair in this one.

All right.

I mean, literally, it's like this.

Like, I want to take a screen grab of it and text it to Creed and be like, what, what was this phase of your hair?

It's very floofy.

I would describe it.

It's more like floofy than spiky.

Okay.

Floofy creed hair.

Track it.

Okay.

I have taken this on a hair tangent, but let's get back to the episode.

Do you remember Steve trying to ride that bike in?

I about fell off my couch laughing from the memory of shooting that scene of Steve riding the bicycle into the office.

When he curses, that was Steve and they bleeped it out and it was so funny.

And you can almost start to see him break.

But that was like, I feel like that was take like 72 or something.

And he was like,

you guys, you have to understand.

There was not a lot of space there.

And it was like, it was like an S.

Do you know what I mean?

So you, you had to come out of that elevator and then about five steps, there's like a hard right, then there's like a left, then a right.

And he had to get on a bike and balance and then try to maneuver this really quick zigzag into the office in one take.

And it was not easy.

So then Michael does something in this episode that I just love so much because I love.

a Christmas pun.

I really enjoy them.

I also really enjoy any pun in like the hair salon genre, if you will.

The hair salon pun are the best.

Like hair today, gone tomorrow.

Like, I love all those.

Now, let me ask you this question.

Is that hair like hair on your head?

Yes.

Hair like a rabbit.

Hair today, gone tomorrow.

And then it's like a rabbit hopping away.

Why would, why would, if you were a hair salon, why would you have a rabbit and not use the word hair?

If you were a hair salon, why would you use the pun hair today gone tomorrow?

Because

they cut it off.

Yes.

Oh, lady.

Okay.

Anyway.

So he, he hits Pam with a whole bunch of Christmas puns.

I can't believe you're just kidding that.

What's happening?

So he just is about to lay them out one after another.

He's like, I would like a nice slice of Christmas Pam with a side of candied Pams or perhaps some Pam chops.

He's just like, boom, boom, boom.

He really does.

Well, Michael has a talking head where he says it's going to be the best Christmas ever because his girlfriend Carol is coming to the Christmas party and he has a surprise for her.

Two tickets to Sandals Resort, Jamaica.

It's all inclusive.

He's just so proud that this resort is all inclusive.

It's his selling point as he tries to get many women to go on this trip with him.

So guys, now Carol Carol enters and she's looking for Michael.

She goes in his office and she confronts him.

She's upset that he photoshopped a picture of himself onto her old family ski trip photo with her ex-husband and he sent it out to people with the message, Skeason's greetings.

He says a Christmas Carol, Skeason's greetings.

Fan question from Allison, Catrion, Sarah, Sarah, Joe, Lisa, and Elise.

Were the kids in the Christmas card photo actually Steve and Nancy's since they were married in real life?

No.

No.

They had Nancy pose for a photo with a couple of kids and a really tall guy that was going to be her ex-husband.

And then they Photoshop Steve's face onto his face.

But those are not Steve and Nancy's kids in real life.

I like that it's a crappy Photoshop because I believe it.

You know,

it's not even well done.

Like it's

not seen Michael's Photoshop skills from when he photoshopped us in that office group photo.

Yes.

So he clearly has not learned anything from then until now.

But Carol ends up breaking up with Michael and Michael is devastated because he's like, no, Carol.

Can I tempt you to stay with me so that we can go to the all-inclusive Sandals resort?

We leave day after tomorrow.

Well, I mean, Michael, come on.

She's a single mom with two kids.

You can't spring a surprise trip.

That's not to say you already did a grand proposal to her.

Now you have photoshopped your head on her ex-husband.

And now you're going to like try to say, but we have this last minute trip that you haven't planned for.

This will seal the deal.

I thought the same thing.

I was like, she has two small children.

It is the holidays.

You think she doesn't have her own holiday traditions and a very complicated complicated like custody arrangement?

Probably.

You think she can just fly off to Sandals, Jamaica with 48 hours' notice?

This is just another example of the disconnect here for Michael in this relationship.

Yeah.

By the way, once you have young children, there's no last minute anything

as far as like your adult life.

You don't just get to go out to dinner last minute or meet people for drinks last minute or take a trip last minute.

Those days are over.

Michael and Carol have a pretty fantastic breakup moment.

If you're Carol, because it's sort of a power play.

Michael goes, You walk out that door and it's over.

And Carol goes, I know.

It's kind of, it's kind of like boss lady moment.

Yeah, I know.

I'm walking out the door, baby.

Bye.

Should we talk about another gift that doesn't go well in this episode?

Pam's gift to Jim.

You mean the scene that I just wrote on my note card as, ooh.

Yeah.

Oof.

Ouch.

Pam calls Jim over to her desk and she's like, hey, I need to give you your present early.

I've been sending Dwight communications from the CIA for a couple of months.

And the gift is that you get to decide his final mission.

Oh, she's so excited.

She has a little red folder she's handing him.

She's so excited that this is just going to tickle Jim and they're going to be back together in their prank wars with Dwight.

But Jim turns her down.

He's like, you know what?

I just, I just don't think I should be doing this anymore because of my promotion.

But then he has a talking head where he says he can't fall back into doing all the things he used to do.

Otherwise, what's the point?

He said it's a chance to start over.

That one had to hurt.

When he walked away and didn't take the folder and Pam is just holding this folder of these ridiculous CIA letters, Your look, it's painful.

Yeah.

Well, now Michael is devastated because Carol has broken up with him and he comes out and he says, Christmas is canceled.

He's canceling it.

And Stanley's like, you can't cancel a holiday.

And Michael is like on the verge of tears and he's like, Jim, take New Year's away from Stanley.

Like

he's really about to spiral out.

Well, lady, did you notice at eight minutes and 47 seconds, there is an amazing shot of the accountant stack?

I say the accounting stack, but with Andy.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

There you guys are.

You're all standing there at the edge of the desks in your accountant stack.

We're standing there, and this is the first shot you get of the blouse.

I absolutely hated.

I hated this blouse so much

because it had, and I counted, 32 buttons.

What?

32 buttons.

And they were tiny little pearl flat buttons like the size of like

your pinky fingernail, like tiny.

And I had to button 32 buttons.

And literally they would knock on my door like, Angela, they're ready for you on set.

And I'm like, still buttoning.

Well, couldn't you have just undone a few of them and pulled it over your head?

No.

No, because it was so fitted in the armpits and I had, and they buttoned all the way up to the top of my neck.

It was like a turtleneck full of buttons.

Wow.

I remember that.

Now that you're saying it, I remember the week of the tiny buttons.

And I remember Carrie, our wardrobe stylist, saying to me, if we ever, ever use this shirt again, I'm going to strip out these buttons and put a Velcro or something because it was driving us both crazy.

But I believe you never wore that again.

No, I think Carrie and I were both like, forget it.

There were buttons down the arms.

There were buttons from my neck all the way, like, I mean, literally to my thigh.

That shirt was so long, too.

I think it was such a good shirt for your character, though.

No, it wasn't.

It was so fussy and lacy.

And I know.

It was like ye oldie Christmas.

And I had my nutcracker.

I had my nutcracker pin on because for me, the theme was very clear of this party.

Well, I think this leads us very well into the conference room for our PPC meeting on the Nutcracker Christmas, which you start by insulting Phyllis.

Yeah, I'm mad and I take it out on Phyllis.

And repeat, that is Angela Martin.

I tell Phyllis to get green streamers, and Phyllis gives me a little Phyllis sass and says, I thought you said green was Horish.

And I mean, Angela is not having it.

She's like, no, orange is Horish,

which is the color that Phyllis was wearing.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Well, Karen now decides to propose a few traditions that were typical at Stanford.

We've got the raffle.

We've got the karaoke.

And Angela just shuts down everything and then throws Karen out of the meeting.

Well, she suggests a Christmas drinking game.

And I'm like, God help you.

That's it.

And I escort her to the door.

Angela is just so ticked off.

She starts off ticked off.

She finishes ticked off.

But I love Jenna that she just keeps going back to, and none of them are on the theme of a Nutcracker Christmas.

A Nutcracker Christmas.

I don't know if you've ever tried to coordinate a party with someone who's very, very big on theme.

Have you?

In your real life?

Is that you, Jenna?

Well, that's what I was going to say.

I feel like maybe you've done that when we've planned a party.

I think there are two types of people who plan parties.

There's people who are just like, ah, we'll just throw it together, which is kind of me.

I'm just like, oh, yeah, whatever.

Let's just, I'll grab whatever snacks we have and we'll just invite people.

But then there's the people that are like, I need a theme and we're all going to stick to the theme.

And here's the theme.

And if you waiver from the theme, I will be pissed off.

And Jennifer.

Well, the funny thing, Angela, is I think you would throw the margarita karaoke party.

You would throw the party with just all the random most fun stuff.

Yes.

And you would throw the nutcracker-themed party, and there'd be nutcrackers everywhere.

Yeah.

Nutcracker cookies, Nutcracker cake.

There would be, I don't know, maybe a handout on the history of the Nutcracker, perhaps.

I don't know.

We'd have the Nutcracker playing on television, the ballets.

You know what I'm saying?

Yes.

Well, now we go into Michael's office, and he is wallowing.

He's listening to a clip of Goodbye, my lover.

He hasn't purchased it, though.

Just a clip.

He's just listening to the free part on repeat.

Goodbye, my lover.

And Dwight enters and he's like, we're getting rid of everything that reminds you of Carol.

We're getting rid of all of it.

Dwight does that classic Dwight thing, though, of while someone else is maybe hurting or trying to forget about something, he thinks he's helping, but he's just like, wow, Carol was a really good realtor.

Oh, look what she did with this mold.

She's like going through her condo, like contract and like praising her.

She's smart.

Yeah.

Well, Pam is over at reception and she sees Karen now.

She has a talking head where she says, I've been a little cold to Karen for no reason.

She's never done anything to me.

And then we see Pam walk over to Karen's desk and kind of apologize and say, hey, I'm really sorry that meeting was like that, that Angela was mean.

And now I guess Pam and Karen are going to bond.

And if you look at the shot of Jim's face, it's so good.

He's like, what is happening?

Yeah.

Well, listen, I mean, I feel like Jim set a clear boundary at the beginning of the episode.

He's like, hey, listen, things are different now.

I'm not going to get into it with you.

And I think this is a little bit of Pam taking him at his word

and being like, okay, well, you know what?

I'm going to step up and I'm going to treat this person the way I would treat them if I didn't have a past with Jim.

Right.

If this woman came into the office, this is how I would behave and that's how I'm going to behave.

Yeah.

I think Pam is trying to be a grown-up too.

Well,

now

the war has begun.

I mean, Angela, of course, is, you know, being crappy to Phyllis.

They're hanging up their sign.

She's like, this should have been hung two days ago.

And then who just comes in and hangs up their sign over my sign?

Yeah.

Our party also starts 15 minutes before yours.

And our poster is more brightly colored.

Shady.

And Kelly says, this looks fun.

And then Kevin walks over and Angel's getting ticked off.

So she rips your sign down.

I know.

And then Karen rips down a Nutcracker Christmas sign.

I know.

It is on.

And there is a deleted scene.

So right after I rip that poster down, my character goes over to Toby and is like, you have got to cancel their party.

We can't have two parties.

This isn't like sanctioned.

They don't have a budget.

And on and on and on.

She's just reading him the Riot Act.

And Toby says, they can throw their party.

It's a free country.

And my character slaps him across the face.

What?

Yes.

Yes.

And then Toby's like, ow, that really hurt.

And then I say, I'm trying to wake you up.

Wake up.

There can only be one party.

And then Toby's like, that really hurt.

And you can't touch people.

You can't hit people.

And I'm going to write you up.

Wow.

And then I say to Toby, you know what?

Michael was right.

You are pathetic.

Wow.

I know.

Well, so, you know, Angela, what you didn't see in deleted scenes is that she goes to Toby for help and he's no help.

So now back in the real scenes, she goes to Dwight.

But there would have been a progression.

She was mad.

She went to Toby.

He didn't help her.

Now she goes to Dwight.

Yes.

As number three, how can he help her?

He walks over to reception where Pam and Karen are on Pam's computer and he says, I am dismantling your.

party.

I'm dismantling your committee and I'm canceling your party as ranking number three.

But then Jim walks up as ranking number two

and he assembles a one-man committee to determine the validity of the party planning committees.

Wait, I have to tell you, this is the actual name of his committee.

Ready?

I love how many committees there are.

So there's the party planning committee, there's the committee to plan parties.

Now, Jim is the sole member of the committee to determine the validity of the two committees.

I love that.

I love that.

And Jenna, what does he decide?

He decides in favor of Karen and Pam.

He says their committee to plan parties can stand.

Dwight asks if he could please become a member of the committee to determine the validity of the two committees.

And Jim says, permission denied.

There you go.

So now.

Michael is still moping in his office and Andy invites him to lunch at Benny Hana to cheer him up.

And then Michael invites Jim, Ryan, and Dwight, but Ryan has the delicious list of excuses as to why he cannot go.

He rattles them all off in a row.

He says, I'm not feeling well.

I've got a ton of work to do.

MSG allergy, peanut allergy.

I just ate there last night.

And Jim is like, wow, thanks for taking all of the excuses.

And then Ryan goes, doctor appointment, car trouble, planner warts, granddad fought in World War II.

He's got like a ton of them.

He keeps them on his phone.

He's like, I keep them on my phone.

You have to like, stay sharp, Jim.

Yeah, step it up, Jim.

Welcome back.

We had a fan catch from Casey Hilton who wants us to know that there is no Benny Hanna in Scranton or even near Scranton.

I looked that up.

They have one in Pittsburgh, which is a four and a half hour drive, and one in Plymouth Meeting, which is a one hour and 45 minute drive.

We didn't even try.

We just, we're like, okay, clearly there's not one there.

We're just, we're just going to write it in anyway.

So they're getting their table at Benny Hanna.

And you guys know how it is.

You all sit around like the stovetop, right?

Yeah.

And so Michael and Andy sit together and Jim, and then there's a seat next to Jim, but a couple scoochies in there before Dwight can get in there because Dwight and Andy were like wrestling for the seat next to Michael.

And now there's a couple there.

And you guys that have watched the podcast before, you will know Stephen Sox, our stand-in, is the man in the couple.

He got to be in the scene, and I just love that.

Well, you know, on IMDB, he is credited as playing the role of Justin Spitzer.

The name that they gave to the character sitting at the table is our writer's name, Justin Spitzer, played by our stand-in, Stephen Sax.

I love that.

Here's the thing.

Now, Dwight's on the other end of the table, and he's going to have to shout throughout the rest of the time there at Benny Hanna.

He has to keep shouting and he's really annoying this couple in between.

And Jenna, I was just like, I know it's for comedy's sake, but you know that couple would have been like, do you want to trade seats?

So you're not going to be able to do that.

I thought the same thing.

I thought the same thing.

What?

They want this guy shouting over them through the whole meal?

Of course not.

But you know what?

Maybe they had already started to get their food or something and it just felt like a huge headache.

I don't know, but they stay.

They're like, no, we want to be in the center of the table.

We want to see the chef most clearly.

I don't know what their motivation was for not letting this guy sit with his group, but.

So Michael is still being mopey, even though they're at Benihana.

You know, he wants to call Carol and Andy's like, uh-uh, let's start ordering drinks.

He starts ordering this weird eggnog sake concoction.

It sounds disgusting.

We had a fan question from Dan Solomon who wanted to know: was that a real drink or was it invented by the writers?

It's a made-up drink.

This is not a real drink.

Angela, someone on cracked.com did an article where they made all kinds of fake cocktails from different TV shows.

Like they made cocktails from 30 Rock and Parks and Wreck, and they did a review of this drink.

Just to remind you, it is one part eggnog and three parts sake.

Sounds so gross.

All right, here's what they had to say.

Quote,

it looks like so many different disgusting things, and none of them are anything I would want to put in my mouth.

You can actually hear the eggnog curdling in the glass.

Gross!

Then they said, it's not the worst thing I've ever had, but it is far from the best.

The real problem lies in the aftertaste.

Both of these drinks have a tendency to linger on the breath by themselves, and neither is very pleasant.

When mixed together, they make your mouth taste like toes.

I wish I could say something nice about this drink, but every time I attempt it, I suddenly forget all the good in my life.

Oh my God.

Well, what I want to know now is what were those guys actually drinking on the set?

Were they drinking water mixed with eggnog?

Were they just drinking eggnog?

I don't know.

I don't like eggnog, so I'm not a big eggnog person.

I liked it as a kid, but as an adult, it's just, it's very thick.

It's like drinking a dessert.

It's so sweet.

Yeah.

We should go back because I need to talk to you a little bit about this scene with Roy.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

So Roy comes in.

He's looking cute.

He clearly just wants to talk to Pam.

He's asking her about her gift wrapping techniques, and she says she only uses three pieces of tape.

Are you crazy?

Yeah.

Well, Angela, Adrian Thornblom, Sidney Layton, and Elisa Schroeder and Kelly Lubert wrote in to say, how on earth can you wrap a gift with only three pieces of tape?

How?

Yeah.

They are all saying there must be at least four.

Why is Pam giving such bad advice here?

Guys, it can be done.

You can wrap a gift with three pieces of tape.

I personally, Jenna Fisher, can't do it.

I use more than three pieces of tape when I wrap a gift.

But because Pam says this in in this episode, every Christmas, when I, Jenna Fisher, give a gift and I use more than three pieces of tape, people comment on it.

Oh no, do they really?

Yes, yes, they're like, use more than three pieces of tape, eh?

And I'm like, I, I am not Pam.

I can't wrap.

Apparently, Pam can.

You can watch a ton of YouTube videos on how exactly Pam does it.

Many people have made videos on how to wrap a gift with only three pieces of tape, so it can be done.

But hold up, lady.

Yeah.

People commenting on your tape, that's got to be in your family because who you're giving at Christmas, you're like with your family.

So you've got like some aunt that's like, oh, you used more than three pieces.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I get grief.

I get grief from my family and some friends.

For not being your character.

Yeah, I mean, that's the tricky thing about having a character that you played for a long time who makes grand declarations.

It gets superimposed onto me.

But, you know.

Do you know what I get almost every single year from a family member?

I get at least one gift that has a cat on it.

Yeah.

I like cats.

Angela Martin likes cats.

Yeah.

I like cats.

I don't need a gift every year with a cat on it, guys, from my own family.

My favorite is more than once, more than once, I have gotten a cat calendar and there's usually a photo of a cat hanging for dear life from a tree and it says, hang in there.

Yeah.

I've gotten that calendar more than once.

Oh, no.

Okay, wait, wait, wait.

We have to get back to the scene because they're flirting.

And then Karen sees the flirt.

sees Roy and is like, he's cute.

You should date him.

And then Pam

does not say a word.

She doesn't own up and she just says, maybe.

Well, I feel like Pam can't tell Karen that she used to be with Roy without it opening up a lot of questions that might lead her to having to tell her things that she knows Jim hasn't told her.

I agree.

Well, lady.

I think we should pause our breakdown for this episode for a moment because this is kind of the halfway mark.

And we thought that this would be a good place to play our interview with Jen Salada.

Yeah, I think it would be great to hear from the writer of this episode before we dig any deeper.

All right, Sam, will you play the interview with Jen?

Hi, Jen Salada.

Hi, Jen.

You guys look gorgeous.

You look, it literally looks like time stopped since I last saw you.

I love you.

You stop it.

I'm so excited.

My favorite guests are when we have writers on because you guys have this perspective that is totally different from the actors.

And I could just listen to you guys talk forever.

That's my, it's my favorite side of the story.

That and probably Phil Shea having to make all the weird props.

All I remember about Phil Shea is constantly when if I had to come in on like a Saturday or a Sunday because I needed to do a little work or I forgot something at the office, he was always there.

He was always there making a prop.

Like he just never stopped working.

He was just chicken, brilliant, you know.

Yeah, my memory of him is him running.

He was always like, like across across the priority and he had things in his hand.

And I'd be like, hey, Phil, I'd be like, hey, I just got to attach this hat to the squirrel.

And then I'm going to hat.

And I'm like, what?

What made me laugh when you told me that I forgot that he presented everything on a tray and the bird thing made me laugh so hard because I'm sure that is, I can imagine that.

I can picture that.

And I wanted to tell you when I was listening to the bird stories that you guys were telling from your own,

but I googled it and I found out that there was an article about why we're seeing dead birds and birds that are struggling now.

It's because of quarantine.

It was the most interesting article.

They said that we are just around and we're noticing nature more and we're more aware because we're not like in our offices all day long.

So that unfortunately, this is a time where birds struggle, but we don't usually see it.

So I don't know if that's like yay or boo or somewhere in between, but no, it is.

This is the big bird baby boom season this time of the year.

And a big part of, because I looked it up too, Jen.

A big part of a bird's life cycle is that between the nest and being a full adult bird, they actually nest on the ground.

So they, the parents kind of kick them out of the tree and they nest under bushes or on the ground for a couple of days.

And their parents visit them, but it's sort of like that's like their going to college phase.

You know, they're out of the nest, but the parents are still kind of like sending them money from time to time.

And so in that little period, like 80% of birds die because they are, you know,

peril meets them.

Maybe it's, you know,

a raccoon or a cat or something, a squirrel.

Yeah, this is the part of their life that where they meet the most doom.

Oh, this is sad.

But I read that somebody rescued another person, like a bird fell into a pool, but they rescued it.

So it's like there may be more rescues happening because we're more uh aware and vigilant right now

cut through

next year an article that says a rise in birds due to people intervening and saving

has now bled us of all of the gnats and it turns out gnats were necessary

i know this has been on a christmas and i'm sure you will deal with this but like i do remember reading articles that people's lives were saved because of uh staying alive in the safety training.

Is it safety training in the episode?

Stress CBR.

Yeah, because I remember I wrote that.

I wrote that and I remember having to make sure.

I remember wanting to make sure it was correct in case anybody watched the show and actually used it.

But then I started to hear news reports that people remember it from the office and are saving people's lives from that.

I've read those same articles.

It's crazy.

You're saving lives, Jensolata.

Salada.

Well,

I don't know.

Jen, we always like to ask people when they come on the podcast how they got their job on the office.

I was on the show Malcolm in the Middle, which I really enjoyed that show.

But

every morning after the office aired, I would come in and just talk about the office forever.

And they were like, let's get to work on Malcolm stories.

And I was like, yeah, yeah, sure.

Did you see what happened on Diversity Day?

So I was a big fan.

And I actually

wrote a short story about a woman who falls in love with the middle of a man.

She works in quality control in a button factory, and she sees the middle of people walking by a window all day long, and she puts all her hopes and dreams in the middle of this man.

Oh, my God.

I love that.

Jen, that is brilliant.

It was so crazy.

I had never written a short story before.

I wrote it.

It took me forever to write it because I took me forever to sit down and figure out what I had to say.

If any, did I have anything to say?

And it kind of, anyway, I wrote it.

And then Suzanne Daniels, I found out that they have piles of scripts.

The Daniels house has piles of scripts to the point where the kids have told me that they almost forget that they're scripts.

They think of them as furniture, like a coffee table,

somewhere to put their legs up.

And Suzanne Daniels, I guess, grabbed my short story.

It's probably thinner than the rest of the scripts on the pile and responded to it and gave it to Greg.

And then I met him at a coffee bean, had a meeting right before he was about to go to Upfronts for season two.

And

I just probably begged to be on the show.

I was really excited and just loved him, loved meeting him.

And that's how it happened.

Oh, my gosh.

That is such a fantastic story.

Well, Jen, we have a question for you about, you know, obviously we're talking Benny Hana Christmas today.

What was the inspiration for this episode?

Do you remember how it came about?

How you came to be the person to write it?

Like, sort of the beginning of what was Benny Hana.

The initial idea was Michael goes through a breakup.

And I can almost see myself leaping out of a chair at that moment

when I came from the room saying, I need to have this episode because I just felt like taking Michael through a breakup is just like having, well, how would a 14 year old boy deal with a breakup?

You know, just kind of just the riding those waves for the first time.

Has he ever been that close to a person to have, you know, to a romantic partner to have those waves so you could really take him to the point where he's lying on the floor.

So, I put in a little bit of 14-year-old boy and then a little bit of me,

you know, listening to James Blunt, goodbye, my lover, and breakups that I can't let you see.

So, there was a smoosh of the two of us, my version of Michael's stuff.

And when I ended up leaving the office, which is devastatingly difficult to do, but I ended up telling Steve that I was leaving, and I'll never forget his comment to me.

He said, I think this is going to be really difficult for you.

And I said,

Yeah, no, definitely.

But he's like, Because I think you work a lot of your own stuff out through my character.

I was like, there's this game that people play of, like, who are they in the office?

And I'm like, I can't be Pam or Angela or Phyllis.

Like, I'm Michael?

Michael thinks I'm Michael?

Steve was aware.

Steve was aware when it was a salada script.

Oh, well, we're going to work out some issues this week.

Yes.

Yes.

So

I think that for the breakup, I put myself as being sort of delayed in that area and experiencing a breakup.

I think my first breakup with a boyfriend was later, you know, mid-20s, you know, just experiencing that.

And then also just having, you know, just thinking of a young, a younger boy going through it.

And I just let.

I wanted it so badly.

So I think I probably just wrestled someone to the ground in the front.

Oh my God.

Well, Jen, I would love to talk to you about the party planning committee versus the committee to plan parties.

What the hell?

You were saying on a previous podcast, Jenna, that I really am drawn to Angela.

I'm writing for Angela.

And there was something I was starting to think about why that was besides just being brilliant and it's so funny and it's just fun to write for you.

But I was thinking, I can't stand sometimes rules and bureaucracy and all of that stuff.

And I feel like your character represented so many of those lines and things you can't do and limits.

So somehow it was like cathartic for me to go deep in there and like have you push those lines with people.

You know, comedy writers oftentimes want to push against authority and rules.

And so you were, you represented that.

So I just kind of love to give you that.

So then what do you do to your character?

You threaten her with a rival party and just kind of up the stakes, a rival a planning committee and up the stakes and have you kind of lose it when you run out to try to get the permission from Dwight that the party needs to

start now.

It just like the intensity with which you're clinging to the fact that you need to maintain the balance of your structure is like, I just, I just delight in that.

I remember that scene.

I remember actually talking to you about the dialogue and you and Harold.

And I guess the first take I did it, maybe I didn't have that urgency.

Like, and you guys like pulled me aside and you're like, no, like, like, think like the building's on fire.

Like, I have enough houses,

you know, and that kind of like stakes.

And then, Jen, while we're talking about this, I had a line where I said to Meredith as she's deciding which party to go to, I say, Meredith.

Like, if you go to that party, you're going to be very, very sorry.

You say something like that.

And then Meredith is like, is that a threat?

And I go, no, it's an invitation like i don't think i really got the joke on the first time i read it and you were like and will you like maybe when you say it's an invitation switch gears to like a smile and i remember it changed the whole scene like i love that moment that moment reminds me of in horror movies when like the deranged ex-boyfriend is like, let me in this house right now.

And then there's like silence, and he's like, Monica, I'd love to come inside.

And you're like, Whoa, that is super creepy right now.

That's scarier than the banging on the door.

So that's when I watched that scene, Angela.

It's an invitation.

Was like super unnerving.

Was like, what just happened?

That was a note.

That was a note from Gensalata just to peek into her brain.

Well, I think

maybe,

there's definitely an alternate reality where the office is a horror and Angela,

there are moments where you're standing by the copier and then just

jump out.

But I feel like there's something where you get to see

Angela's struggle of her real feelings in the episode because they leak out all over the place, but then the pop back to this is a work, this is an office, we have to be professionals.

So there's like, we get to see that like moment where you

where you, the threat comes out and then, you know, no, this is office decorum.

Here I am as an office person.

It's so creepy because we just saw what you really are or what part of you is.

Or yeah.

I love this storyline too, because it serves that whole purpose.

And then it also serves the purpose of putting Pam and Karen together and freaking Jim out.

So that's why it's so rich with storyline.

Should we head over to Benny Hana?

Because Jen, we were not there that day that you shot in the restaurant.

And there are so many delicious scenes.

Delicious.

I feel like that was a really good use of, is that a like a metaphor?

Because Benny Hanna serves food?

I don't know.

Oh, well.

I think that the idea of Benny Hana might have come up because it always cheered me up when I was a kid.

If I had been sick or if I got a good grade, we'd go to Benny Hana.

And I remember they used to like, fling shrimp in your mouth.

I heard that when I was doing research for this episode, that they stopped doing that.

I think that they were worried about it being dangerous.

And so flinging hot shrimp across a restaurant.

But Jen, I love to know like how Benny Hanna was like part of your childhood memory because

our youngest son, when he turned eight, the one thing he wanted to do was go to Benny Hana.

Oh, yes.

Well, that was like our eight-year-old's birthday.

It's dinner and a show.

I remember.

So there was a scene where Dwight Dwight talks about the knife that the chef is using and how, oh, I bet you're bummed that you want this other knife.

And the chef is saying, no, no, this knife is better.

Dwight, you don't know what the best knife is.

And I kind of put this together when I was re-watching the episode.

But when we were there, there was a problem making the onion volcano.

So

that was sort of the biggest holdup of the day.

The chef couldn't make the onion volcano, and then they brought in another chef to make the onion volcano.

We couldn't get an onion volcano off the ground.

It was, and I think we had one of the more celebrated onion volcano chefs there.

And what immediately happened to me, even though I wrote the scene with Dwight talking about knives, is I was like, well, maybe is the oven hot enough?

Are you sure that the right positioning of the onions?

And I'm like, they know onion volcanoes.

I don't know onion volcanoes, but we were desperately trying to get this.

And so all of us were sitting around giving notes to a person who was already having a difficult time making the onion volcano, trying to get help.

You know, how can we help this?

So, secret little fun fact: the steam from the onion was added in posts because we never.

The volcano never erupted on the day.

There was, I think, a puttering of smoke that came out after,

I want to say, hours of trying to get this off the ground.

And I think it was Dean Holland who was editing the episode.

He's like,

here's what we're going to do.

We're going to add some smoke to the onion.

We can do this.

And I can just imagine my, it passed Jen crying at that moment of relief because

the onion sputtering would not lift up a heartbroken Michael.

And, you know,

we needed that onion to do its part.

Yes, yes.

Oh, my gosh, I love that story so much.

So, Jen, now we want to talk about the storyline with the Benny Hanna waitresses and how Michael can't tell them apart.

And I know we traded emails about this.

Even though we're saying, Michael, you should know better, what you're doing is wrong.

Is it even right to put that storyline out there?

Can you share your reaction to rewatching it?

You know, it's like, I feel conflicted about the whole, like, there was this like Archie Bunker, Michael Scott, David Brent thing that we would make a joke that this is clearly inappropriate, but some of that stuff is just not appropriate, even if it's being made a joke fun of and some is.

And I don't know where some of the line is, but what is what is offensive?

What is going to hurt somebody?

What is making fun of a character who does this?

And is that even okay?

Or where's the line for that?

We're constantly growing and

have to understand, you know, even if our intention was to do something to show how ridiculous this behavior is at the time, how does that portrayal come across?

And is that affecting people?

And just taking it all in and

just trying to educate myself as much as I can about how what we put out there affects people.

Yeah, absolutely.

I feel like as a creative community, we need to learn and reevaluate how we tell stories.

Yeah.

And like you said, Jen, how those stories affect people.

Yeah.

Yeah.

All right, Jen.

Well, before you go, can we ask you just a couple of quick little questions about this episode?

Okay, first of all, everyone wants to know, is there a significance to Jim and Karen both giving one another a copy of Bridget Jones' diary?

Is there a story there?

I, as far as I remember, it was that they saw it together.

I don't think they were fans of it, and they kind of gave it to each other as sort of a joke gift.

I remember we were talking about

they wouldn't be giving each other a really significant gift, right?

At this point, it's not like a really big gift, but at the same time, it should be a gift that if Pam is watching, we'll feel like, oh god, they're on the same wavelength.

So it was like, you don't want, you know, him to give her jewelry, but at the same time, you don't want just two different gifts where it's just, you know, A, for just the efficiency of a script where they have to both be explained.

Why does this mean something?

Why does this mean something?

So it was a quick way to sort of say they're on a similar wavelength, but it's not a real serious gift.

There was a debate between

Mindy and Mike about that movie because Mindy would talk about her classic comedy movies.

And this is more about her age.

She, you know, would say Bridget Jones is like a classic comedy.

And Mike would probably talk about Can't even remember the examples of the apartment or like just sure,

right?

So

Mindy got Mike a Bridget Jones diary poster and signed it, and Mike hung it on his wall.

So I think the fact that it was a bit of a joke between Mike and Mindy, it ended up getting that was the specific that we used.

So it wasn't just.

Let's make fun of a movie that's super popular

and great.

Angela, you wanted to ask about karaoke.

I did.

I wanted to ask you, Jen, how you guys decided on the songs that each character would sing.

Kevin sings You Ought to Know by Alanis Morset.

Michael and Andy sing Your Body is a Wonderland, John Mayer.

Kelly sings We Belong, which is hilarious by Pat Benatar.

Creed sings his own song, Spinnin' and Reeling.

And then, of course, Dwight sings Lady by Sticks.

Yes, so, all right.

I remember We Belong, definitely me.

I came up with that because I, as soon as I like a guy, I would start singing that in the shower.

That is me, that is where me and the Kelly Kapoor character character collide.

However, I am 99% sure it was Mindy that said, We Belong Together, Ryan.

Like, I did not have that in my draft.

I just had her singing.

It's genius.

It makes the moment.

It's so good.

I just looked up, I had in my writer's first draft, Kevin singing.

One second, please, Mo Money, Mo Problems by notorious B.I.G.

instead of Alanis Morse.

So somehow during the rewrite process, it became You Ought to Know, which is just fantastic, where he just goes for it at the end.

I watch that scene and I notice, I don't know if it's Jim or if it's John, where you see him laughing.

He's breaking.

He's smiling at Brian.

It feels like he's breaking, but I don't agree.

Oh, no, I wrote it in a time code and everything.

He's clearly breaking.

You can see his cheeks bulging, and that's why he doesn't turn around.

He's like fascinated on Kevin because John is breaking.

That's amazing.

And I do remember we wanted Creed to sing one of his own songs.

We just thought that was incredible.

Yeah.

Like, just what a cool opportunity.

How often do we have that?

Like,

dude, was in a band.

He was in a band.

He's phenomenal.

I was going to say one thing that's in another song thing, but not for here.

I wrote a joke where Michael says, I got two tickets to paradise.

He says, pack your bags.

We leave the day after tomorrow.

And at the sound mix, I found out from Kent that that was a $60,000 joke.

I was like, it's a fine joke.

None of my jokes I've ever written have been the $60,000 joke.

But I remember not so long after that, we had some of our music budget pulled away from us.

And I can't help but think-I mean, I was sitting at the mix and had no idea that because he sang that song, that song had to be cleared, and that joke was $60,000.

Gin Salata, you are such a delight.

I just enjoy you so much.

And we just want you to come back as many times as you will, please.

Oh, I'm in.

It's so much fun.

It's so much fun.

All right, Jen, thank you so much.

Thank you so much, Jen.

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Okay, we are back.

Let's break down the rest of this episode.

We are at the hibachi table, and Dwight has decided that he knows more about knives than the Benihana chef.

Yeah.

He's sort of like, ooh, is that a Nakiri?

And the chef is like, no, it's a soba.

And Dwight's like, oh, I bet you wish you had a Nakiri.

And the chef's like, actually, this is better for large quantities.

Yeah.

And Dwight's like, I'm not sure.

And then I wrote down, restaurant lady sass.

I love this moment so much.

And the actress's name is Annie Sertik.

And she says, um, I think he would know.

And then they look at each other, they like glare at each other.

But I loved the way she delivered that line.

Also, I want to give a shout out to the chef in the scene, who I believe was a real Benny Hanna chef.

That's what Kent told us.

I also noticed this is his only credit on IMDb.

He also really knew what he was doing.

And his name is Chatri Yovizitsak.

Good job schooling Dwight, Chatri.

Exactly.

Well, there is a deleted scene that happens right here, Jenna, and it's so good.

Michael sneaks off to call Carol, and he asks her what he did wrong.

And he's on the phone for a long time.

And then he says, well, all right, could you tell me something that I did right?

And then she hangs up.

Oh, no.

Oh.

Oh, that's crushing.

But just watching Steve as Michael play the moment where he's listening to her rant and he's like, well, okay, well, did I do anything right?

It's, it was really funny.

after that phone call is that when he would go back to the table and then andy's trying to cheer him up yes exactly and then andy's like let's get around to drinks going you know and he tells him about this smoking volcano onion that's going to come so that he comes back from the call really dejected Ah, and this is what we talked about in the interview with Jen about the steam from the onion.

I tracked it.

It's 21 minutes, 44 seconds.

If you want to see a real good shot of some fake onion steam, I tracked it too.

Look,

I have my time code and everything.

I got really excited.

Okay, where are we?

Oh,

well, we're back.

We're back at Scranton.

And Pam and Karen have announced that their party is starting.

And this is when Angela starts to spiral out.

And she's like, I have a very important announcement.

And she's trying to like make sure her party starts before theirs.

Yes.

And then this is when Angela calls Dwight

and she announces that her party has started early.

And it's also here, I tracked this, Angela, because we talked about this with Jen as well.

At 20 minutes, 50 seconds, this is that scene where you say, it's an invitation.

Yeah.

It's not.

That was right there.

It's an invitation.

That's when you see how Angela Martin would be in a horror movie.

Well, also in this scene we didn't talk about with Jen, at 23 minutes, 20 seconds, there is a really good shot of my gray tights that I'm wearing instead of panty hose.

That's all.

That's all.

Well, Jenna, I have something that I got really excited about.

This is a great background catch for my folks that love the background like I do.

I mean, I froze it.

I took a picture of it.

I'm very excited.

At 23 minutes, 10 seconds, in the deep background, Andy's screen in accounting looks like someone was surfing the internet.

Zoom in.

So then at 23 minutes, 28 seconds, there there is a picture of a cat with a cowboy hat screensaver on Andy's computer.

I want to say, Angela, this same thing happens in the cold open.

When Dwight comes in with the goose, I am surfing the internet.

And then the next shot, when you see me at my desk, I have changed it to a screensaver.

We were really surfing the internet in this episode, clearly.

What happened?

We were just like there, like, you know, paying our bills and shopping.

So now Angela has announced that her party is starting.

Do you know who the very first person to go to the other party is?

Stanley.

He stands there for a long time and looks back and forth and then picks Karen and Pam's party and he gives a look to camera.

Is this Stanley's first like direct look to camera?

Yes, I think it is.

Yeah,

I think it is.

I also want to say, Stanley, what were you mulling over?

I mean, what took so long?

There was a chance you were ever going to go to Angela's party?

A lot of suspense.

Well, he might have to put up with Phyllis, you know, because you know Phyllis is going to my party.

So maybe

it was more layered of a decision.

All right, so here's a breakdown of who goes to Karen and Pam's party.

You have Stanley and you have Kelly and Ryan and Meredith.

And then later we see that Daryl and Roy and Creed are all there as well.

The only people that go to Angela's party are Hannah, who's, by the way, really snarky.

She's so snarky.

And Kevin and Phyllis.

Yeah.

But then Kevin is going to leave your party and come to my party.

I know, I know.

We'll get to it.

Something I want to point out to everyone is that there is this huge Pam, Karen, Angela stare-off, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

It is for nine seconds.

That's nine seconds of dead air time.

It starts at 24 minutes, 30 seconds.

It goes to 24 minutes, 39 seconds.

And I don't know why, but I wrote, that's longer than you have to stay on a bull in like professional bull riding.

You get eight seconds to stay on a bull.

We stared at each other longer than you have to stay on a bull in professional bull riding.

Well, Angela, I loved that you tracked our stare.

in bull riding seconds.

I think that should be a new standard on our show.

You're welcome.

You're welcome.

Is it longer or shorter than a bull ride?

Well, Angela, this leads me into your talking head.

It's so wonderful.

You explain that you don't back down.

It's a source of pride.

And in fact, you have not talked to your sister in 16 years because of an argument that you guys got into.

You're that good.

You don't even remember what the argument was about.

Yeah.

She's really proud of it.

She's proud that she hasn't spoken to her sister.

She doesn't even know why anymore, but she's not making that phone call.

Well, we had a fan question.

Okay.

Hannah Mack, Lindsey Neem, Allie Burke, Veronica Ramirez, and Jesse Clark all said,

Angela says that her sister was her best friend, but they haven't spoken for 16 years.

But then later, her sister Rachel appears at the end of the series in her bridal shower, where Angela describes them as being very close.

Is this the same sister?

Okay.

I don't know what you have to say about it, Angela, but I have some facts about it.

What is your answer?

No, no, I want to hear your facts.

I looked it up in the show Bible.

Ooh.

And here's what it said.

Season five, episode 13, it is revealed that Angela has several sisters.

So later at the wedding, we're referring to one of her sisters, Rachel.

Although in the wedding, it sort of implies that you only have one sister again.

So it is a little ambiguous.

What's your story here, Ange?

I always assumed that I had several siblings.

You know, I have that line in the Martin family, we say looks like someone took the slow train to Philly.

I just assumed there was more than just me and my parents, you know?

Yeah.

So I assumed I had more siblings and

that the sibling at my wedding was not the one that I haven't spoken to.

Unless she reached out to me, I'm still not talking to her.

Well, you made that clear in your talking head.

Yes, that's for sure.

All right.

So should we go back to Benny Hana?

Now,

Michael is getting wasted and he is going to steal some steak from a stranger's plate because he claims it's family style.

And Jim is like, no, it's not.

Jenna, this brings me to, I think we need to start tracking some drinks.

Okay.

I love it.

How could we do this podcast without you?

tracking drinks.

It's your favorite thing.

Truly, it's like my purpose in life is to track these ridiculous things.

So I'm going to take us back for a moment, but at 19 minutes, 40 seconds, that's when Andy orders the first round, right?

Okay.

Michael's come back from this phone call that we didn't know about.

And now Andy orders the first round.

Andy, Michael, and Dwight all get these cocktails.

Jim gets what looks like to be like a Coca-Cola of some kind.

It's like a brown-looking soda.

For my own peace of mind, I'm going to make Jim their designated driver.

Go on.

Oh, he 100% is.

Okay.

And then at 21 minutes, 25 seconds, you see Michael like downing his.

He's like slamming it back.

Then at 21 minutes, 31 seconds, Cindy is giving them a second round.

Now she just gives it to Andy and Michael.

I don't know about Dwight.

But at 25 minutes, 8 seconds, there's two more drinks in front of Michael and Andy.

So by my tracking, I think they've had at least three.

Okay, so now we have the scene with the waitress where Andy is asking the waitress to close her eyes and imagine her dream house and then describe it to him.

And Dwight can't hear any of this, so he asks Jim to explain what's happening.

Jim says, oh, she's trying to describe how to butcher a dead goose, but she can't figure it out.

So then Dwight chimes in and it ends up being very creepy and random.

And can I just say, I was in food service.

Guys, stop being pervy and weird.

Yeah, just be cordial.

Be cordial.

I mean, when they asked her to close her eyes, like,

did you see how many tables she had?

She is so busy.

She's probably in the weeds, getting everything out to all these tables.

She doesn't have time to like humor some guy who wants to flirt.

You're at a restaurant with chefs doing a whole food show for you.

That's your entertainment.

Leave your waitress alone.

In general, leave your waitresses alone.

Come on, everybody.

Oh, but before we move on from this table scene, I want to give a shout out to the guest actress who plays the woman at the table.

Yes, Annie Sertik, who gives Dwight so much sass.

Yes.

Guys, she's amazing.

I feel like she's only got the one line to Dwight, but her expressions and all of her reactions during the scene are so great.

And she is a company member at the Groundlings.

She's had recurring roles on Silicon Valley and Two Broke Girls.

And I did a deep dive on her IMDb and I found this little interesting bit of trivia, Angela.

What?

She was on Curb Your Enthusiasm where she played quote-unquote buffet woman.

And then she was on Cougar Town playing female chef.

I just thought it was interesting that she's had three guest roles involving food.

I'm also really envious that she got to play buffet woman because,

oh, that's the role of my dreams.

Yes, exactly.

All right, we're back now at the parties.

Angela's is not going going well.

It's pretty boring.

Phyllis is like desperate to get out of this party.

She really is one of my favorite things in this whole episode.

Her yearning to be at the other party is so brilliant.

Phyllis is so brilliant.

And there's a deleted scene that's great that really would have amplified this.

She pours herself like a drink and it's like ginger ale.

And she says, oh, there's not a lot of fizz in this.

And she starts to make her way to the door.

And I'm like, no, no, no.

She goes, I should get some more ginger ale.

And I'm like, no, no, no.

And I block her from leaving.

I was like, I'll go get it.

You stay.

That is amazing.

But her, her, her reaction when she pours in, she's like, there's not a lot of fizz.

It's like, you see her plotting to get out of the conference room.

Well, I also quite enjoyed in this scene, Hannah.

If you look at her in the background, she is like really examining the napkins.

She is giving your napkins like the third degree.

I'm sorry she's not going to stick around longer.

Well, we'll get to that in future episodes.

Yes.

All right.

Well, Pam and Karen's party is a big hit, except the karaoke machine won't work because they don't have the right cord.

But don't worry because Daryl is going to go get his keyboard.

And then there's this scene that I absolutely love as Daryl walks past the conference room.

He's like, hey, when you're done with your meeting, there's a party in the break room.

But it's the way Craig says it because Craig is like, hey, guys, when you get done with your meeting, it's like he doesn't quite know what to call it.

He's like,

meeting?

You should come to the break room because we're having an actual party.

And I love it.

And that's when at 28 minutes, 24 seconds, Phyllis is standing in the doorway and she's sort of gazing at the other party.

And then Ryan comes to get his jacket.

She's like, Are you cold?

That'll help.

Is it cold in in there?

You know what?

That was an improv.

Stop it.

Stop it.

Yes.

Which part?

The final line?

It was scripted that Ryan would come and get his jacket

and that Phyllis just says something like, how is it in there?

And then he's like, huh?

And that was the end of the scene.

And then he walks away.

So Phyllis being like, maybe that'll help.

Is it cold in there?

That was Phyllis.

Well, her, maybe that would help.

Like about had me fall out of the chair.

Her runner is just absolutely one of my favorites in this whole episode.

So now the guys return from Benihana, and they have brought waitresses with them.

So we covered a little bit of the Benihana waitress storyline with Jen, but we did not really talk about this, and we got a lot of fan questions from Emma Bloom, Kelsey Kay, Kayla Bass, Abby Roll, Tanessa Lee, Samantha Munden, and many others want to know, why do the actresses playing the Benihana waitresses change when Michael and Andy bring them back to the office?

Is that supposed to feed into the ongoing joke that Michael and Andy can't tell them apart?

So, no.

The idea here was simply that Michael and Andy couldn't land the original waitresses that they'd been flirting with all night.

And then they managed to get these two younger, kind of more naive waitresses to come back with them to the office.

And in the script, it says, Michael and Andy walk in not with Cindy and her hot friend, but with two other 20 to 25 year old Asian American waitresses.

So the idea was that these two older sophisticated women would never go back to a party, but these two younger gals, college-age gals,

would be like, oh yeah, like free drinks.

We'll go.

Free hairs.

Like they're more up for it.

Yeah, free drinks.

And Michael's like, and I have a present for you it's a bicycle

yes and she's thrilled she's like i love it yeah well i have a background catch at 29 minutes when they walk into the office the girls have on a lot of makeup and then at 29 minutes 12 seconds later no makeup what happened well angela a lot of other people noticed this as well sonia maria raposa wrote in with a theory oh she thinks that they appear with makeup at first because that's how Michael perceives them to be because he's drunk.

And then they appear with no makeup because that's what they truly look like.

It's not the case.

Jen did a little bit of a deep dive and she actually found an interview that her and Greg did on an office panel about this exact thing.

And she said basically it was a continuity error.

Yeah, exactly.

She was telling us that the first day that they worked, they put makeup on them.

Then they watched the dailies and they were like, well, wait, that doesn't really track for who they are in the show as their characters, these younger college girls.

And, you know, they're, they shouldn't look that sophisticated.

So, the next time they worked, they toned down, didn't have them have makeup on.

So, it was as simple as that.

They really wanted to drive home this idea that these were college girls to kind of further emphasize how ridiculous Michael's infatuation and belief that he's found his true love is.

Yeah, and Michael now starts going around the office and introducing Nikki as his new girlfriend.

Everyone is like, girlfriend?

Huh?

Really?

Well, they realize pretty quickly that Angela's party is super lame.

And as they leave, Nikki takes one of Angela's decorations, and Angela is ticked off.

And she insults her with the Hello Kitty backpack line.

It's just a horrible thing to say.

And Michael wants to get Nikki away from Angela as soon as possible.

So he takes her to the really fun party in the break room.

We have Kevin singing karaoke.

Yeah, go to 31 minutes, 14 seconds, and please watch Ryan.

It is the most animated I've ever seen him.

He's like swaying back and forth, singing like, you gotta know.

He's like so into it.

I'm like, what's happening, Ryan?

Is he drunk too?

Well, I did have a fan question from this scene from Sasha Lara who wants to know: does Craig Robinson play the keyboard in real life?

Oh, Sasha, yes, he does.

He definitely does.

Bro, he's phenomenal.

Are you kidding?

He's amazing.

And in those scenes on the show, when Craig would get out the keyboard, it really did turn into a party.

Like that was really fun to shoot.

Angela, I'm sorry that you weren't in there, but we were having an amazing time.

And between takes, Craig would play and we would sing and Kate would sing show tunes.

And I mean, it was like,

it was exactly as much fun as you would imagine it would be.

I'm bummed i wasn't in that scene to be able to hang out with you guys like that but i cherish the times we were all in the conference room and if craig for you know in the latter years he was in the main office bullpen and he and kate would start singing and ed i have found a video on my phone oh my god jenna it's us in the conference room and they just start making up a song And like, oh, and everyone is singing and it's so great.

I love it.

Those Those are some of my favorite memories.

I'll text you the video.

Ladies, should we go back to your super sad party?

Oh, I guess.

Angela's having a horrible day, but a big thing happens here, which is that Dwight holds Angela's hand.

I know.

It's like a very, very small moment.

She's holding her boom box in her lap and they hold hands.

Well, this is when then Karen enters and announces that Dwight won the raffle, which of course is like a super passive aggressive thing to try to lure Dwight into the fun of their party.

And as Dwight is excitedly opening the gift, Pam kind of clocks Angela's sadness and pulls Karen aside and says, I feel kind of bad for Angela.

Hold up.

Did Dwight really not win the raffle?

No, lady.

We just did that to try to lure him to our party.

This whole time?

I mean, when did he have time to enter the raffle?

I don't know, but this whole time I thought he won the raffle.

And I was like, oh, my God, Dwight won the raffle.

I mean, I always took it to be like

another, like how we lured Kevin away from your party.

This is how we were going to lure Dwight away by coming into your party and like trying to poach him.

Oh, my God.

Mean girls.

Here I am all naive thinking like, way to go, Dwight.

I mean, I don't think he won the raffle.

That was my take on it, was that it was a little bit of of a mean girls moment on him and Karen's part.

But you get Karen to come around and now you guys try to make amends.

We do.

And by the way, I mean, we maybe passive aggressively let Dwight win the raffle, but you stole our power cord and hid it in a plant.

I know, I was about to say, you guys faked a raffle, and I'm shocked by that.

How could you?

But I full on stole the cable and hit it in a plant.

Yes, you sabotaged our karaoke machine.

Okay, so now the parties have merged and the karaoke machine has its cord.

And we open with Andy and Michael singing Your Body is a Wonderland.

Michael is not sure which waitress is his girlfriend here, so he's singing to both of them.

So we talked a little bit with Jen about all the different songs that people sing.

for karaoke, but we did not touch on this one.

And I have some really good trivia about it.

Let's hear it.

So we reached out to John Mayer to ask him if we could use his song, Your Body is a Wonderland.

And it was actually BJ Novak who reached out to him because BJ knew him.

Knows him.

They're pals.

He reached out to him and he was like, can we use this?

And at first, John Mayer was like, I don't think so.

What?

He told his friend, uh-uh, not happening?

He was like, I don't think so.

And he actually wrote about this on his blog.

He was like, one of my favorite shows on television, The Office, wanted to use my song, Your Body is a Wonderland in a scene for their Christmas episode.

And he was like, Now, I'm not making apologies for my work, but it's safe to say I don't get asked to use Wonderland for strongman competitions and documentaries about aircraft carriers.

I usually get asked so that people can goof on it.

So I initially turned down the request.

But after thinking about it, I decided to go for it, but with one stipulation: What was it?

He wrote, I want a Dundee.

Ah!

So BJ presented him with a Dundee for tallest music dude.

He is very tall.

He's very tall.

And then he agreed to let us use the song.

Well, look, I get it.

Andy and Michael are being total idiots in this episode.

And so do you want your song?

to be the song the two idiots picked, right?

Right.

But he agreed.

And Angela, we have a very fun story about John Mayer.

We danced at the Walkhardt premiere party with John Mayer and you were very pregnant.

Look, this is like true BFF friendship because I did not feel like being in a dress or in any kind of fancy shoes, but this was a big premiere for you and I was so excited to celebrate it.

And then, of course, because you and I have to, we had to dance.

Listen, I left the after party before 10 p.m.

I was like, I'm out.

But I was going to have one dance with my best friend at her big movie premiere.

And John Mayer was on the dance floor, and he was dancing with someone.

And I'll never forget, he turned around, and I'm sure he was really surprised to see a huge pregnant woman like directly behind him.

And he was like, oh my gosh, he goes, you're so beautiful.

And then he touched my belly and he said, blessings, blessings.

I will never forget it.

My belly was blessed by John Mayer.

And John, thank you from us for letting us use your song.

and he said he still has his Dundee, by the way.

He still has it.

He better still have his Dundee.

I have both of mine.

I have both of mine.

So now we have the scene that where Michael is over with Roy and Kevin, and he's kind of trying to brag about his new girlfriend, but it's very clear that he doesn't know which one is Nikki.

Right.

Kevin and Roy are like, you don't know.

You should know.

Michael, you should know.

This leads Michael to really spin out.

He needs to figure out which woman is his girlfriend.

So he goes into the kitchen and he does this whole elaborate bit where he's like, where's my girlfriend?

Where is she?

Is she in the refrigerator?

And it's this such this awkward moment where finally Nikki says, Michael, you know where I am.

I'm right here.

So then when Michael goes in for a hug,

he takes out a pen and he marks Nikki's arm because this is now how he's going to be able to determine which one of these women is his girlfriend.

And Angela, this moment really made me cringe.

Yeah, it made me cringe too.

I just don't think the storyline would have been written today.

Yeah, I don't think so either.

All right, well, let's get back to the party.

It's going really well.

Everyone's having a better time.

Karen and Jim exchanged Bridget Jones' diary, and Jen told us a story about that.

Yes, and Pam gives Toby a robe.

Where she got it, I don't know.

Maybe it's her robe.

That was a fan theory that Pam gives Toby her robe.

I like that.

Yeah.

And that's when the waitresses decide to leave, though.

She's like, you know what?

This party kind of sucks and we're going to take off.

And Michael's like, no, don't go.

Don't go.

she's like i'm gonna go and that's when he invites her on a trip to sandals jamaica it's all inclusive he is determined to get someone to go on this trip that is the third person in one day he is asked to go he asked carol he asked pam and now he's asked nikki the waitress

yeah But she's like, no, I think I'm just going to take my bike and get out of here.

Get out of your lane party.

I really love that she takes the bike.

Oh, I do too.

She's like, I have the spike at least.

Yeah.

So Michael is devastated.

And he's on the couch with Jim.

And Michael is really mopey.

He's like, she was the one.

She was my true love and she's gone.

And Jim is like, you barely knew her.

You knew her for three hours.

She's not the one.

She was a rebound.

And Michael's like, oh my God, a rebound.

And Jim's like, yeah.

And he goes on to say, which don't get me wrong, can be a great distraction.

But when it's over, you're left thinking about the girl you really like, the one who broke your heart.

And Jim is, I mean, we know who Jim's talking about in that moment.

He's talking about him and Pam.

And he's basically saying, Karen's a rebound, just like Nikki was a rebound.

Yeah.

But all Michael hears is that he's had a rebound and he's, he's super excited.

Yeah.

But Jim, we hear you we hear we hear you Jim we hear you you love Pam we hear you

now Angela we need to discuss little drummer boy okay

we had a fan question from Manda Gervais hmm hey

spelled differently than Ricky Gervais but

she wants to know How was it decided that Dwight should hold the microphone for Angela?

I found this choice really interesting because they don't want to look like they're dating, but this was kind of the first impression that they gave of interacting in a personal way in front of the entire office.

Well,

here's my story.

I was terrified to sing this song in front of everyone.

I do not like singing in front of people.

I just am not comfortable singing in front of people.

It's kind of crazy to my whole family because I will do improv, I'll do stand-up, I'll do crazy sketch comedy, I'll be all these weird characters.

I have no fear ever getting up on stage.

But if you want me to sing in front of people, it's like I, I shut down.

Like my brain computer is like, I can't do it.

And there's been a few times in my career when I've had to do this.

And this was the first time and I was terrified.

And I'll never forget.

I went up to Harold Ramos, who you guys, you know, we've said he was just a teddy bear.

And I went up to him and I was like,

here's the thing, Harold.

I can't do it.

I can't do it.

I really just can't sing in front of people and I can't do it.

And he really calmly put his hand on my back and looked at me and said, but you will.

And I was like, oh, God, oh, no, I'm doing it.

I am doing it.

But Angela, I looked in the script and this bit of Dwight holding the microphone is not in the script.

So how did that happen?

I shared with Rain how scared I was.

You know, we did a take or two where the microphone was on a stand, you know, and I'm standing, holding my hands like in this very sort of like, I don't know, I'm, I'm clutching my hands.

Very prim and proper.

Very prim and proper, clutching my hands in front of my chest.

This was an idea that Jen had, you know, and so I'm standing like this because she was saying that she thought I should look like I'm in a very serious church choir stance or something, you know.

So, okay.

So, I'm standing like that.

And you guys, I was so nervous.

I was digging my fingernails into the skin of my other hand.

I had marks on my hands where I was just like,

like death gripping myself.

And after the first take, I showed Rain my hands.

I was like, I am so, look what I'm doing.

I'm so nervous.

And Rain,

you know, listen,

he just came came through for me, you guys.

Just came through for me.

I was having a hard time, even though I know the song, I was so nervous and everyone was looking at me.

I was having a hard time staying on beat.

And

he dropped, he took the microphone, he improvised this.

He took the microphone, he dropped to his knee.

And to help me, like, find the song, he's just started going.

And

all of a sudden, I wasn't alone.

Rain was with with me.

I mean, Rain is six foot three.

So when he's kneeling down, he's almost my height.

It was like he was standing side by side with me.

And then I could do it.

And you see, if you watch ever so slightly, you see me smile.

I'm not smiling because Angela loves Dwight and she's getting to sing a Christmas song.

I'm smiling because Angela Kinsey sees her friend Rain Wilson come through for her.

Well, lady, I knew that story and I was there when it happened.

And when I watched this scene, I 100%

saw that this was a scene between Angela Kinsey and Rain Wilson.

Yeah.

The way he's supporting you and the way you're smiling at him, it is so wonderful.

And then it translates into this moment between Dwight and Angela that just enriches that relationship.

What a wonderful, wonderful moment.

It really is.

Anyway, so Rain, thank you so much for coming through for me with your brum bum ba bums and getting me through that scene.

Now, during all of this, Angela, Oscar and Gil walk into the party.

What?

And he's like, too soon.

What brilliant timing, though.

I mean, that was such a well-written moment.

Here he is making his return to work.

You know, he's bringing his boyfriend.

That's it.

Oscar is back, right?

and then he sees angela of all people singing little drummer boy and he just does a pivot he's like nope not happening also during this in the background we see roy give pam a christmas gift and we had some people write in to ask what book did roy get pam for christmas was it a really thoughtful gift this was asked by juliet wilson donna miller celia quiggle dimitra lizoo sarah thorpe sarah fletcher and Brooke Beagle.

A lot of people want to know what the present was.

You guys, it was an art book.

It was a very thoughtful present.

Roy is winning me over.

He wasn't the best boyfriend, fiancé, but he's really trying.

He's, you know, invested in how to learn how to gift wrap.

And he's dressing nicer and he's getting in shape.

And he is like, I'm going to buy you a thoughtful gift.

And

I know.

This was intentional.

There was a part of this season where I thought Pam might be won over by Roy.

And they weren't even sure in the writer's room, right?

They hadn't decided.

No.

No.

I had this whole conversation with Greg where I was like, Greg, wouldn't it be like a crazy,

crazy thing if the real true love story is Pam and Roy?

Like, what if all this time Jim is is just a device that leads Pam to her real true love of Roy, and Roy completely rehabilitates himself, and that's the love story of the office.

It would blow people's minds.

And Greg was kind of like, yeah, I hear what you're saying.

I also think it's going to be Jim and Pam.

But I was like, I'm just saying, if we really want to shock people, maybe it's Pam and Roy.

And he was like, yeah, I don't know.

There are people listening right now and are like, no.

So instead of jam fans, there would have been poi fans?

Poi fans?

Ram fans.

Ram fans.

Well, I ultimately, I do believe that it was always going to be Jim and Pam, but we had like a pause.

We had a moment.

I think partially because David Denman's performance, we were all a little bit falling in love with Roy right now.

Yeah.

Yeah.

He did a great job.

I think it was such an excellent to see Roy step it up, you know?

And I think that needed to happen.

I think Mindy sort of touched on that when she was a guest that like they, we needed to see Roy like really make a go of it.

Yeah.

Well, I want to say something.

What's up with Jim?

Jim clocks this through the window.

And then all of a sudden he's like, hey, Pam, I want to do your CIA joke.

Oh, do you, Jim?

You do.

Interesting timing.

Well, that you're suddenly invested in the CIA joke.

Why couldn't he have just left well enough alone?

Well, Pam was delighted.

It literally saved the day for her.

Yeah, she was thrilled.

And it's very fun.

They decide that they're going to tell Dwight

that a helicopter will be picking him up.

And he goes up to the roof.

And then they play that final prank on him.

I know.

And then he throws his phone off the roof.

Dwight.

Amazing.

Dwight, come on, buddy.

Well, we can't end this episode without the major cliffhanger, which is that we spot Michael on the phone in his office inviting someone, a fourth person to Jamaica.

And they say yes.

And the look on his face, he's like, oh, okay.

Oh, my God.

But who he has called, we don't know.

It will be revealed next week in Back from Vacation.

I remember at the table read for this when he read that last line, there was such a buzz in the room.

They're like, whoa,

we know who it is.

We know.

You guys know.

And next week, we'll talk all about it.

Well, that's it.

We had a Benny Hana Christmas.

We had awesome guests.

Thank you, Rashida.

Thank you, Jen.

And thanks, you guys, for listening.

Yeah, we'll see you next week.

Bye.

Thank you for listening to Office Ladies.

Office Ladies is produced by Earwolf, Jenna Fisher, and Angela Kinsey.

Our producer is Cody Fisher.

Our sound engineer is Sam Kiefer.

So one of the hardest parts about business-to-business marketing is reaching the right audience.

And when you want to reach the right professionals, you need to use LinkedIn ads.

LinkedIn has grown to a network of over 1 billion professionals, and that's where it stands apart from other ad buys.

You can target your buyers by job title, industry, company, role, seniority, skills, company revenue, all in one place to reach the professionals you want to reach.

So you can stop wasting budget on the wrong audience and start targeting the right professionals only on LinkedIn ads.

You know how sometimes you get an ad and you're like, was this for me?

Who was sending this to me?

Well, with LinkedIn ads, that's never going to happen.

LinkedIn will even give you an extra $250 credit on your next campaign so you can try it yourself.

Just go to linkedin.com/slash office.

That's linkedin.com/slash/office.

Terms and conditions apply only on LinkedIn ads.